Dry 6

[sydneysideup]

This is the thread for the alcohol free. Happy and hopeful, continuing from Dry 5 here: www.mumsnet.com/Talk/relationships/a2137624-DRY-5?msgid=50943574
Whether it's been an hour, a day, a week or a year, join us here.

glad you liked my Freudian slip there!
DC's are now hyped up on sugar and attention following minion birthday cake and all the family round. I 'third' the bit more time for me Haggis - roll on next Tues when normal service resumes
Thank god it's all over for another year

Sunday's for me will be the worst I think we go to grandma's he entertains the kids while me,dh and bil have a during and a chat
I'm dreading it but just need to remember where it will end if I drink :-)

Is there anyway you could avoid it this Sunday till you feel stronger ?Or would that not work ? How's today been? I feel a bit low ,, anxious ,, restless,and out of sorts .

Shiong I second trying to avoid it this weekend if you can.At this early stage, you have to protect yourself and your sobriety as it is still so delicate. I have a mini-theory (which might be total rubbish of course) that people who use alcohol to cope with stresses/life etc tend to be people- pleasers, and to put ourselves last... we want to take care of others first, and so we prioritise our sense of obligation to others....and what they expect of us. Now is the time to prioritise you and your needs, and to know that this really is okay.

knackered I know that anxious and restless feeling. A feeling like you are itchy in your own skin. It passes. :) I bet you will feel great tomorrow morning though. :)

Hi Broken. Never been before. Very excited. The thought of sun! Yay.

Glad it's not just me feeling a little suffocated on the kids front!

Where are you going Haggis? I have only been to Melbourne and Sydney. LOVED it!

Mainly Melbourne - then up to Queensland for some tropical sun and back down to Sydney but only for a day or do before flying home. We are going again Dec of this year with the kids & will do Barrier Reef etc. then. so massive (obvs!) it's hard to know where to start. Will feel quite odd bring with my sister & not drinking. To be honest I've found some Skype calls where it's night time & she's been out & had a few quite wearing . But hopefully it will be ok.

Mainly Melbourne - then up to Queensland for some tropical sun and back down to Sydney but only for a day or do before flying home. We are going again Dec of this year with the kids & will do Barrier Reef etc. then. so massive (obvs!) it's hard to know where to start. Will feel quite odd bring with my sister & not drinking. To be honest I've found some Skype calls where it's night time & she's been out & had a few quite wearing . But hopefully it will be ok.

Neither have I Haggis. Have loads of relatives down there which have made the offer but never taken them up on it. Maybe one day. Enjoy you lucky thing!

Prognosis not great atm on family member. Very aware this is a public forum so not wanting to say too much but next couple of days crucial to see how body responds. Fucking puts everything in perspective. This poison alcohol isn't worth it. Ending up in a hospital bed, families worried sick and upset, the possibility of leaving dc without their mother

Am really sorry to hear that broken

I'm so so sorry Broken. I'm hoping they can recover.

My thoughts are with you and your family eggshells

Oh Broken that is very worrying - hoping that things can turn around and sending strength to you .

Yet another old friend of ours died overy christmas. He was a massive party going drinker in the day - hadn't seen him for a while and I understand it was an aneurysm, but my first thoughts were that it must have been something to do with lifestyle . I am nowfeeling that I have somehow been given this strength to stop for a reason (does that sound a bit woo and stupid?) I dunno, just seems that I had tomake a choice and finally did.

So bloody glad xmas and all that is past . I find it so grim! enforced jolliness resulting in grumpy children and tetchy spouse! He seems ok at the moment. Is taking his anti d's which has really surprised so am hoping for the best. He has had to go back into work today so I have arrnaged for a friend of dd to come round - the alternative may have been a slow descent into insanity

A coupls of too doos with mother regarding a telephone which we bought and was 'wrong' but dealt with calmly...

Visit to the cinema to see 'The theory of everything' with ds yesterday which just had me sobbing from the beginning almost (much to ds disgust!)

Been reading some interesting articles and such like about Dry January. Some saying it's a waste of time and people who give up are smug and inssufferable, some about how ridiculous to have to pay people to stop - a few of my friends have found it 'hilarious' that they failed first thing on new years day (ho Ho Ho...)

Anyway, dd has just marched in and is telling me about a dream she had.. Joy, The day is begun

Happy new year everyone. And welcome to all the new people. Stay!!!

Morning all, sorry to hear about your family member brokeneggshells, I don't know if its a similar thing but over the last few months we have been told my father is not going to live for very much longer. All his body is closing down, his liver isn't functioning, his kidneys have given up. All because he wanted to carry on drinking despite the many warnings. It makes me realise just what a dangerous addiction it is, I don't think he ever wanted to be like this, just didn't have it in him to stop. I'm assuming that your relative is alcohol related so apologies if this isn't the case.

Thanks everyone. I think the thing that has shocked even me is that the first time you end up in hospital could be the last. Personally hearing stories in AA and from people I've known in the past, I seem to think its progressive and involves countless hospital admissions, you get a chance to get scared into changing things round iykwim? Gave both my dc an extra big cuddle before bed last night.

Sorry to hear about your friend Biggles Found myself reading the dry January thread in chat here the other day. Surprising just how many people are a bit concerned about their drinking and the occasional ones who think they actually do have a problem. Glad you survived Christmas with the mother and hope things are on the up with your dh.

Xpost miserable so sorry to hear about your dad, sending you strength at this time. Heartbreaking watching and feeling so helpless. Yes it is.

eggshells (assuming the cause of admission is thread related) that's the thing about booze - no nerve fibres in the liver means we get no pain from it until it's too late and 75% is jiggered and the first admission to hospital can be the end of the journey not the beginning. This country does not afford this substance the medical respect it deserves for something so deadly.
miserable you and your family are in my thoughts also
biggles so sorry to hear about your friend too. Aneurysms can be triggered by lots of things, including lifestyle, but you can have an undiagnosed predisposition to them too. As for Dry January I think it's a good thing if only to raise awareness of the issue. 'Smug and insufferable' and 'paying people to stop' response sounds like that of a drinker as in my former life that's what I would have said! :D
Off to the mayhem of TRUs today to spend DC's Xmas/bday money - god help me I may need a family size chocolate bar when I get back

A good friend of ours (non drinker interestingly) runs a pub and every dry january posts a bit of a rant on fb about how ridiculous it is and how people shouldn't stop drinking for one month as the pub trade will die out and all the pub owners will suffer. It's difficult to know how I feel about this as she is a very good friend who is 100% supportive of my stopping and doesn't drink herself. In fact her partner, who was our best man, is really very ill through drinking and smoking too.

Tricky one.

Biggles It's not Dry January that is killing the pub trade - it is the supermarkets and their BOGOF and lost leader pricing of booze that is the problem. I do get it as my father-in-law is a retired publican who still owns the pub and their livelihood depends on alcohol too which probably goes some way to explain why our non-drinking is a verboten topic of conversation with them Does your friends pub do food? That seems to be the way to survive these days and that's how my IL's pub is still thriving.

They do - and pretty successfully. It's a pub dh and I ran for a while - off Mill Road and is very lovely but very small and local-ish. I agree it's the supermarkets and their ridiculous cheap offers that are killing pubs off.

Must get name of said pub next time we have coffee & cheese scones so DH & I can sample then

Afternoon all, decided to give up the booze for (atleast) January this year as I do most years. I've always had a love/hate relationship with booze and for a while in my younger years darank far far to much, lost too many friends etc because of it. Calmed it down alot over the past five years however I'm still quite bad with it (eg if i'm left alone in the house by myself for the night I'll drink the house dry!). Usually have a drink every evening with my wife but once or twice a year I'll have a dry month just to check it's not a difficult thing to do.

So after a boozy December me and, I'm happy to say for the first time, my wife are giving it up. Seriously thinking about making it a permenant thing however I'll set my target for the end of the month and see what happens. What usually happens is it starts with a few nights a week, maybe one or two when out for a meal then it's just forgot about. I don't think I can only drink a few nights a week if my wife is drinking every evening so it'll probably be an all or nothing :/

Keep up the good work everyone!

Hi Rb - and welcome! I hope booze free January goes well for you & your wife.

Gosh that dry January thread reminds me of why I stopped drinking! I "started stopping" in November 2013 and though I've been on and off the wagon since then, I'd sort of forgotten why I stopped in the first place: daily drinking, stopping off to buy booze every evening on my way home from work, saying I wouldn't drink today but then drinking anyway, loving the evenings when DH was out so I could drink unobserved, hiding empties in my bag to throw away on my way to work so DH wouldn't see them...

So so so glad not to be in that place any more. Sometimes I think I'm making too big a deal of it, that I didn't really have a problem, but then I remember things like the lying, sneaking and hiding. I forget what a struggle it used to be to get past Day 3.

Sorry to hear about your family and friends Broken, Miserable and
Biggles.

Welcome rb and a month off is a great goal to start with. I totally relate to having a love-hate relationship with booze.

Happy New Year all.

I need to catch up on the thread I lost you all for a bit!

Happy to say I made 4 months AF on New Years Eve (& celebrated it by the Harbour Bridge fireworks in Sydney lol)

I can't believe I've made 4 months and got through Christmas sober, the first one for many many years.

Surprised tho the cravings I thought had gone reared their ugly little heads around Christmas stressy time. How good was it to beat that and wake up hangover free on the big days. Woohoo

Onwards and upwards. I'm aiming now for the 6 month mark, still feel like a drinker tho and still don't feel as amazing energy wise as I thought I would but one step at a time

good luck to all the new sobriety sisters on here - if I can do it there is hope for anyone